Yesterday, after a slightly less painful (but still fairly brain foggy) morning than I’ve had of late, I rushed up to Bothell to get my hair cut by Betty1. During the hair cutting, the inevitable “glasses off, glasses on” routine had to happen a few times. (With my glasses off, I can barely read my phone when it’s 10″ from my face, much less have any sort of meaningful impression of the image reflected by a mirror that’s 5′ away. With my glasses on, it’s very difficult to cut my hair.)

During the third or fourth iteration of this process, I was unfolding my glasses when I realized that they did not need nearly as much folding as experience has led me to expect. Upon closer examination, I realized the right earpiece/arm/stem of my glasses was missing. The wayward piece was in my lap. There had been no trauma or rough treatment or anything else I could think of that would cause this to happen. It was as if the right earpiece suddenly — and without warning — broke its allegiance with the previously cohesive unit that was my glasses. (more…)

While waking up this morning did involve a feline alarm clock, it did not involve drama (the narrative mode, not the dog) or trauma (include Sprocket’s recently discovered “I’mma gonna cut you if you don’t get up!” mode). Cats were fed, I was allowed to live. All is right with the world. (more…)

TL; DR: I am interested in buying a new couch. I would like to be able to search / browse online (marginally optional), and then sit on / lay on / poke at the couch (required) before shelling out money. The vendor must deliver to my home, preferably into my home. I live in the Seattle area, on the Eastside. Where should I go to find a new couch? (more…)

Since half of the yarn for my planned Sanquhar Cowl seems to be on perpetual backorder, I’ve decided to work on another of Wendy Johnson‘s colorwork cowls: the Leftovers Cowl. Unlike Sanquhar, which I will be working in black and white, Leftovers pretty much calls for a riot of color. As luck would have it, I can do that.

There are a total of 13 motifs in the cowl, and each motif uses 2 colors of yarn. While the colors don’t have to be unique, I actually have 26 colors of yarn available for the project. What I don’t have is a good eye for pairing colors. (There’s a reason I wear black and/or white, you know.) This is where you come in. (more…)

This tidbit of information comes to you from a physical therapist I had back in Maryland:

Knitting and crocheting injuries have their own ICD code. “2015 ICD-9-CM Diagnosis Code E012.0: Activities involving knitting and crocheting.” This code will be replaced by the equivalent 2015 ICD-10-CM Code of Y93.D1 when the US makes the transition on October 1, 2015. (more…)

I’ve been working on Debbi Stone’s Spectral for the past few days. It’s coming along very nicely, I think. (Sauron picked the color scheme.)

Speaking of colors, that’s actually 4 different shades of grey [aside: as a huge fan of grey-scale work, I’m incredibly annoyed that the phrase ‘shades of grey’ has been permanently subverted in the public vernacular] yarn shown here. They’re all part of Miss Babs’ 5-color Pegasus gradient set, and are awesome. Eventually, the cowl will go from dark to light (there’s one more step down in intensity left in the set) to dark again. (more…)

“The special quality of beauty in crafts is that it is a beauty of intimacy. Since the articles are to be lived with every day, this quality of intimacy is a natural requirement. The beauty of such objects is not so much of the noble, the huge or the lofty as the beauty of the familiar. People hang art high up on the walls, but they place objects for everyday use close to them, and take them into their hands.”

I’m preparing to start work on Debbi Stone’s Spectral, using a Miss Babs gradient set in Pegasus. Assuming I don’t pull my hair out in the process of splitting the balls of yarn in half by weight (and then further marking off another 11 grams on one of those balls), the next step will be to cast on.

Using ball A1 and a long-tail cast on, cast on 336 stitches.

Now, really. Is there any reason it has to be a long-tail cast on? Couldn’t I use, say, a cable cast on, and not have to either a) redo the cast on 4 times to finally get enough in the long tail, or b) have an egregious excess of yarn in the long tail going to waste?

Following the cast on are 4 rounds of k1, p1 ribbing. This ribbing is repeated as the last 4 rows before the end, and the cowl is bound off in pattern.